I’m only on the learning curve

I’ve been a pastor for 20 years now, and I’m still on the learning curve. But instead of getting frustrated (that I’m never able to fully get everything I need to know), I’ve realized that all pastors should always be on God’s learning curve.

In fact, the “experts” in whatever field are on their way out. The moment they “know it all” is the moment they stop learning. It’s the moment they stop keeping up with change. Some upstart is going to overtake them and become a new expert.

Many leaders have become dead weight. Their “expertise” keeps them from moving forward. They’re about be passed up by people looking to the future.

Consider Kodak, the erstwhile unchallenged leader of cameras and film worldwide. Today, the bastion of Rochester, NY’s, economy is a hollow shell. Kodak’s leadership is turning it into a poster printing company. Their once-unquestioned dominance is now a joke. They rested on their laurels. They missed the switch to digital and never caught the cutting edge again.

Grateful that you posted this. I often wonder if pastors ever lose heart and worry if they are challenging themselves. I think it is important for people to always throw themselves in new surroundings, new circumstances, and areas our side of one’s comfort zone. The more experienced we get, the more challenging our new experiences should be. But that is a blessing.

In 33 years as a high school teacher I found my peers to be the most “set in their ways” and recalcitrant to change and modify and adapt to today’s ever changing modern teens. You would think college educated people would be willing to do that.

The expectations and the way we were taught in an all white middle class world do not fit today. One size does not fit all in the inner city multicultural and in many cases home dysfunctional. One example is that my “regular” 11th graders were 2 -4 years below grade level in reading. Why would the teacher use the decades old standard tests wherein most of the class gets F’s ? One paradigm I bought into was less is more(instead of whole chapter choose six pages to do well) and every teacher is a reading teacher.

I know you must be a most wonderful pastor because you are so down to earth in “liking” blogs that are not just of Christian things, but also of the world, which shows me you are non-judgmental and I’d feel very comfortable in your church 🙂